At this point, there probably aren’t many people who expect a feature film to be a 100% accurate depiction of events, even when it proclaims that it is based on a true story. The idea of dramatic license is well-understood, but there’s always a related question: when does dramatic license steer a project too far away from reality?

It’s one thing to make a film based on disputed story accounts, as is the case with The Fifth Estate, which subject Julian Assange has disowned as “based on a deceitful book by someone who has a vendetta against me and my organisation [sic].” But is it another to remap events so broadly that they deviate wildly from fact, even if the intent behind the changes is good?

In Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray, along with the cast and crew, use the story of the hijacking of the ship Maersk Alabama to tell a story about two men who represent different lives and cultures. It’s a great story, and it uses the story of Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama to raise very specific points and questions. But there’s one problem: some of the ship’s crew says the film doesn’t represent Phillips properly, and it paints a very incorrect picture of events. Read More »

Captain Phillips is not an inaccurate title for Paul Greengrass‘ latest movie, but it is an incomplete one. While the drama does indeed chronicle the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama from the point of view of the titular hostage, this isn’t really an epic about a brave captain battling vicious pirates. (Or not just that, anyway.) It’s a tragedy about two men caught in a very desperate situation.

Paul Greengrass‘s on-again, off-again affair with DreamWorks’ The Trial of the Chicago 7 is, well, off again. The Captain Phillips director has just left the Aaron Sorkin-penned drama, two months after we heard he was in talks and five years after he originally started circling. Hit the jump to find out what happened.

These days, the word “piracy” more readily brings to mind tech-savvy downloaders scouring Google than dangerous criminals sailing the high seas. But in 2009, the capture of the MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates served as an unhappy reminder that the latter kind haven’t entirely disappeared.

Paul Greengrass‘ Captain Phillips chronicles the dramatic hijacking and the events that followed, with Tom Hanks in the title role. The newest international trailer features just as much intense action as the earlier domestic ones have, but also offers some more insight into Phillips’ personal life. Check it out after the jump.

The first three Bourne films, starring Matt Damon, were the first stage of what Universal would like to be an ongoing and continually lucrative series. The fourth film, written and directed by Tony Gilroy and starring Jeremy Renner as another chemically engineered super-spy (chems? Chems. CHEMS!) moved the story forward a bit, but wasn’t a runaway hit.

Universal has been developing a fifth film, and for a few years there have been hints that Matt Damon might be recruited to co-star in a “crossover” film that would put him in the same film with Renner’s character. That eventuality may be closer than we thought, as Damon is now rumored to be in early talks to return to the fold.

Tom Hanks stars in Captain Phillips, the new film from United 93 director Paul Greengrass. He’s the captain of the ship Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009. The first trailer showed the beginning of that hijacking, but this second trailer is more detailed and intense as it shows the actions and personalities of Phillips and the pirate leader, and hints at the military response to the situation.

Several years back, Aaron Sorkin penned a script called The Trial of the Chicago 7 that caught the attention of some high-profile directors. Among those were Steven Spielberg, who was originally set to direct, and then Paul Greengrass and Ben Stiller, when Spielberg departed.

As of today, the screenplay still hasn’t made it to the big screen. But now it may be getting some help from one of the filmmakers who looked at it before. Greengrass is in final talks to direct the fact-based drama, some five years after he first started circling. Hit the jump for the film’s history, plot, and more.

Having won an Oscar for portraying one historical leader, Forest Whitaker is preparing to tackle another. Only while The Last King of Scotland‘s Idi Amin was a ruthless dictator, Memphis‘ Martin Luther King Jr. was, well, Martin Luther King Jr.

Paul Greengrass is directing the Scott Rudin-produced film, which is now going the indie route after being dropped by Universal a couple years back. Hit the jump to get the details.

One word comes to mind watching the first trailer for Paul Greengrass‘ latest film Captain Phillips: Intense. Few filmmakers are better at creating incredible tension and drama out of real world situations, and it appears the director of United 93, Bloody Sunday and two Bourne movies has done it again. This time he’s joined by Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, who plays the title character in the true story of an unarmed American freighter ship hijacked by Somali pirates.

The film, which co-stars Catherine Keener, John Magaro and others, will but out October 11. Check out the trailer below. Read More »